Deammonification (Sidestream and Mainstream Deammonification and
Mainstream Nitrite Shunt)
Objective:
Biological nitrogen removal from high-strength streams (e.g., sludge liquors, landfill leachate).
State of Development:
Innovative (Sidestream Deammonification) and Emerging/Research (Mainstream Deammonification and Mainstream Nitrite Shunt).
Description:
The deammonification process (sidestream) involves removing ammonia in a two step process that requires initial partial nitritation to convert approximately 50 percent of the ammonia to nitrite. Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) bacteria convert the nitrite and the remaining ammonia to nitrogen gas under anoxic conditions. The process requires only partial nitritation, which theoretically reduces the energy demand up to 63 percent compared to conventional nitrification and denitrification. The deammonification process is a completely autotrophic process and does not require any supplemental carbon.
Mainstream deammonification and mainstream nitrite shunt are two emerging/research technologies that offer much promise. Beyond the savings in aeration energy and supplemental carbon associated with
Nitrogen removal, is the dramatic energy benefit of redirecting wastewater carbon to anaerobic processes for energy generation, as well as the BNR process volume benefit associated with keeping the carbon out of that system and the additional aeration energy benefit of the same.
Example processes – DEMON®, SHARON-ANAMMOX, ANAMMOX® Paques, ANITA-Mox, DeAmmon Where is it applied – The deammonification process has been successfully implemented as a sidestream process for treating centrate and filtrate recycle streams from dewatering anaerobically digested biosolids, with over 20 first generation municipal and industrial processes operational in Europe. The relatively high temperature and high ammonia concentrations typically found in these recycle flows make them ideal candidates for this process. Deammonification has not yet been installed in the main liquid stream process at full scale due to the difficulty in inhibiting nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) growth, the relatively lower tempera- ture and ammonia concentration, and the need for selective retention of Anammox bacteria. However, a full- scale full-plant deammonification demonstration has been installed at the Strass WWTP in Austria where a sidestream deammonification process can provide seed for bioaugmentation in the full-plant testing. Pilot scale testing of full-plant deammonification is also being implemented at plants in Washington DC and Virginia.
Process Controls – The main process controls are solids retention time (SRT), pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and nitrite concentration. Aeration mode (continuous vs. intermittent) and whether to use innoculum of Anammox bacteria are also used in process control as competition for oxygen between ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and NOB is controlled by DO level and aeration time and regimen. Monitoring the biomass is also used for volatile suspended solids content as well microscopic analysis as indicators of efficient operation. The control of the deammonification process is similar to the nitritation and denitritation process because NOB growth must be inhibited. In addition, the deammonification process must have adequate SRT. The growth rate of anammox bacteria is extremely slow (approximately 13 times slower than nitrifying autotrophs), which requires special attention to SRTs in the deammonification reactors to prevent anammox washout. Anammox bacteria tend to grow as relatively heavy granules, which allows for the possibility of separating anammox bacteria from other ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and NOB. The use of cyclone (such as in the DEMON® process), or through the controlled granular size (such as in the
ANAMMOX® Paques process) allows for separate control of the anammox SRT (must be more than 30 days) while maintaining optimal SRTs for AOB growth (typically between 2 to 3 days).
Configurations – Several process configurations are used for the deammonification process. Paques has both the two-step SHARON-ANAMMOX process as well as a one-step granular sludge process with both AOB and anammox in the reactor at the same time. The SHARON-ANAMMOX process (ANAMMOX – Paques) is a two-stage, suspended growth implementing a SHARON reactor, followed by an anoxic
anammox reactor. The SHARON reactor does not have solids retention while the anammox reactor uses an upflow solids granulation process to generate biomass that will be retained in spite of the slow growth rate.
Nitrogen Removal
prepared 2012Technology Summary
Deammonification (Sidestream and Mainstream Deammonification and
Mainstream Nitrite Shunt) (continued)
The second configuration (DEMON) involves a single SBR where the nitritation and anammox processes occur simultaneously and biomass is retained using a hydrocyclone process to promote sludge granulation. The DO is controlled at very low levels (< 0.3 mg/L) along with the pH to monitor nitritation. The third configuration (Anita-MOX, DeAmmon) uses carrier media similar to moving bed bioreactors as a means to retain the anammox organisms in the system. In these attached growth systems, nitritation takes place in the outer biofilm while the anammox bacteria are found in the inner biomass. Completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) and oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification denitrification (OLAND) are other terms used to identify the processes that are now generically described as deammonification.
Comparison to Established Technologies:
The deammonification process can save up to 63 percent of the oxygen demand (energy) compared to conventional nitrification/denitrification with nearly 100 percent reduction in carbon demand, 80 percent reduction in biomass production and no additional alkalinity requirement. In comparison, the
nitritation/denitritation process can achieve a 25 percent reduction in oxygen (energy) demand, 40 percent reduction in carbon demand, and 40 percent reduction in biomass production when compared to conventional nitrification/denitrification. The deammonification process is completely autotrophic and does not require supplemental carbon (another benefit of deammonification over nitritation/denitritation). Because
supplemental carbon is not required for deammonification, biosolids production is very low by comparison to alternative processes. Based on reported data, the deammonification process can achieve up to 95 percent ammonia removal. Because the anammox organisms (planctomycetes) are extremely slow growing, the deammonification process is slow to start without seed organisms from an operating facility, and special care must be taken to retain the biomass to provide the long SRT required.
Available Cost Information:
Approximate Capital Cost: Not disclosed by the vendor. Approximate O&M Costs: Not disclosed by the vendor.
Vendor Name(s):
DEMON® – World Water Works, Inc. Chandler Johnson
4000 SW 113th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73173 Telephone: 855-466-2271
Email: [email protected] Web site: http://www.worldwaterworks.com ANITA™ Mox – Veolia Water, Inc. Hong Zhao
401 Harrison Oaks Blvd, Suite 100 Cary, NC 27513
Telephone: 919-677-8310
Installation(s):
Full-scale systems have been operated in Europe. The first U.S. installation DEMON) became
operational at Hampton Roads Sanitation District in 2012, the process is under construction at
Alexandria Sanitation Authority and several other US projects are under design. The technology is
available commercially.
DEMON® - Nine full-scale side-stream installations
are in Austria (Strass), Germany, Switzerland (Glarnerland), Netherlands (Apeldoorn), Finland, and Hungary. The first full-scale US installation has been operating at the HRSD York River WWTP since October 2012. Several installations are under construction in the United States (Alexandria, VA) and several are in the design phase.
ANITA™ Mox/DeAmmon – Installations are in Sweden (Himmerfjarden, Växjö, and Malmö), Holbæck Denmark, Germany (Hattingen), and China (Dalien). No installations are in the United States, but this process is in the design phase for the HRSD
Nitrogen Removal
prepared 2012Technology Summary
Deammonification (Sidestream and Mainstream Deammonification and
Mainstream Nitrite Shunt) (continued)
Email: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.veoliawatersystems.com DeAmmon – Purac Box 1146 SE 221 05 Lund, Sweden Telephone: 46-46-19-19-00 Fax: 46-46-19-19-19 Email: [email protected]
Web site: www.lackebywatergroup.com
ANAMMOX® and SHARON ANAMMOX- Paques
Aafko Sheringa T. de Boerstraat 24 8561 EL Balk The Netherlands Telephone: 31-0-514-60-85-83 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://en.paques.nl
James River WWTP, and a pilot test is underway at the Denver MWRD plant.
Key Words for Internet Search:
Deammonification, anammox, sidestream treatment, DEMON process, ANITA-Mox, CANON process, OLAND process
Data Sources:
Joss, A., et al., “Combined Nitritation–Anammox: Advances in Understanding Process Stability,” Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 45, No. 22, pp. 9735–9742, 2011.
Rogalla, F., “Sustainable Solutions,” Water and Waste Treatment, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2011.
Daigger, G.T., et al., “Implementation of a Full-Scale Anammox-Based Facility to Treat and Anaerobic Digestion Sidestream at the Alexandria Sanitation Authority Water Resource Facility,” Proceedings of the Nutrient Recovery and Management Conference 2011, Miami, FL, CD-ROM January 9-12, 2011.
Gustavsson, D. J. I., “Biological Sludge Liquor Treatment at Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants - A Review”, VATTEN 66:179-192. Lund 2010.
Wett, B., “Development and Implementation of a Robust Deammonification Process,” presentation at the Leading Edge Technologies Conference, Singapore, 2007.
http://cyklar.ch/libraries.files/RobustDEMONProcess.pdf
Wett, B., et al., “Key Parameters for Control of DEMON Deammonification Process,” presentation at the Nutrient Removal Conference in Baltimore, MD, 2007.
De Clippeleir, H., et al., “OLAND is feasible to treat sewage-like nitrogen concentrations at low hydraulic residence time,” Proceedings of the Nutrient Recovery and Management Conference 201, Miami, FL, CD-ROM January 9-12, 2011.
Veolia Water Solutions: http://www.veoliawater.com Phone conversations with World Water Works staff, 2012. Vendor-supplied information